Rainbow Over The Moon
by kangaroo
Summary: Harry is, as usual, stuck at the Dursley's, until he is 'rescued' by a certain canine duo. Summer is looking up, so is life...or is it? Things begin to worry Harry and Sirius. Post GOF. AU from there. No slash. Please Read and review, makes the author hap
1. Harry's Boring, Utterly Predictable Summ

Disclaimer; characters and setting (and owt you recognize) not mine. I do get inspired by things that I haven't created, but I'll mention them as they come up.

A/N. yes, the characters are OOC, but then again…when is this ever likely to happen in canon? Please review and enjoy. Love kangaroo. ("Secret Accomplice peeks around the corner and waves 'Hi!'")

**Rainbow Over the Moon**

**Chapter 1; Harry's Typically Boring and Utterly Predictable Summer**

Harry Potter's summer had been less than what one would call fun. He had, yet again, been stuck at his Aunt and Uncle's prim, spotless house in the most boring, neat and uninteresting street in Little Whinging. Harry sighed to himself and flopped back on his bed, after looking for the fiftieth time to see if Hedwig had returned, and pondered this particular summer. At least in previous years, meaning before he had known Albus Dumbledore, he had been able to wander around the town and play in the park for a while, whenever he had been free from chores and had outrun Dudley. This summer, however, it wasn't particularly wise for Harry to leave the house. Harry, nor his Aunt - if he were fool enough to ask her, knew exactly where the end of the wards were, so Harry presumed, he might be able to take a small wander down the lane.

For now though, Harry stared at the stain on his ceiling that had been caused by a minor explosion from the chemistry set Dudley had been given when he was nine. His room was bathed in orange light from the streetlamps outside, which created strange distorted shadows across the floor and walls of his 'bedroom' (it was really just a storeroom for things Dudley no longer wanted). Harry reflected for a moment on how strange, like the shadows, his life had become when he was at the Dursley's. During the daylight hours he acted like a normal muggle, just like he was supposed to, in front of his uncle and aunt. But by night, like now, he waited 'til the wee hours to receive mail from the owls sent to him by his friends, particularly the ones he now considered family. Actually saying that, most muggle children his age weren't worked to the bone by their aunt and uncle, so maybe he wasn't normal in any sense.

At that precise moment a small, brown bundle of feathers flopped onto his lap. Howel. He was no Hedwig, but still a better form of life than Harry considered the Dursley's. Howel was the owl who normally brought him mail from Professor Lupin, who he had been in contact with since his third year. However, as he read the letter attached to the owl he realized that this piece of post had come from Sirius Black, his godfather.

It read:

'Dear Harry,

How are you?

I am at _Professor_ Lupin's! Ow! He hit me. He says you call him Remus now, good, I was wondering how long that would take. Professor, snort.

Ok, so now you know to not slag him off in your letters as he will most likely read them over my shoulder! No, Remus! He does not normally slag you off! Look what he made me write!!

Anyway! Lets ignore the grouchy werewolf. He hit me again, Harry!

Are the muggles treating you right? If not, then what's one more crime to add to my record? I would love to hex them all into next Thursday!

Speaking of next week, I have 'persuaded' Dumbledore to allow you to stay with us for the remainder of the summer starting next week. Remus has knocked a load of protection wards and all that stuff around the house. I'll explain later how that works. It's boring, yes, but it's important.

Have your stuff packed to go on Wednesday night. If the muggles have locked it away or something stupid like that, then gather what you can and I'll get the rest when I come to bust you out.

I sent you some Sleeping Draught. Try (I said _try) _to drug them at dinner on Wednesday. DO NOT GET CAUGHT!!

I will see you on Wednesday 'round midnight. Remus is being a spoilsport and won't let me heroically break down their front door and sweep you off to safety! He hit me again, Harry, make him stop!!

Love,

Sirius and the abusive werewolf. Ow!

_PS: Harry, it's Remus, I'm not abusive! And I would like to heroically bust you out too, but somehow, I feel you would prefer just to get away from Surrey than have some failed, yet spectacular rescue attempt? Ok then, see you Wednesday kiddo. Love Remus._

PS: Me again! Ok, I was harsh…Remus is loadsa fun! Really…you will see the dark side of Remus Lupin soon!!!

_Thanks for that Paddy, I'm sure he thinks I'm some evil beast now…oh wait, I am._

I meant the fun Marauder I knew. Not _Professor _Lupin. Ow…he hit me again.

_Ok, that time I really did hit him…besides, I would like to think I was a pretty fun professor? Right Harry?_

Nuh uh, not allowed to bring the kid into it…this is between me and you, _Professor_.

_Then why are we writing it on Harry's letter!!! Ok, sorry Harry, be ready for Marauder escape attempt extraordinaire on Wednesday. Love Remus._ And Me!!!'

Harry laughed to himself. The letter was like listening to a rather absurd conversation between his godfather and former professor. Sirius' way of casually mentioning drugging muggles and breaking down their front door really was amusing. Remus' letters normally left him stuffing a pillow in his mouth to stop him from laughing out. The werewolf was hilarious and a lot more fun and Marauder-like than he often let on and Sirius claimed.

He hoped he could stay awake until midnight on Wednesday. He usually woke up from some nightmare in the middle of the night and would reply to any post that the owls had brought him. But the way the muggles were working (and feeding) him, he would probably start to sleep straight through the night and become practically catatonic by Wednesday.

In eagerness he packed his trunk and slid it under his window, his eyes all the while drooping shut. He fell asleep face down on the bed. The last vaguely coherent thought that flitted through his mind being that he hoped he wouldn't suffocate with his nose squashed into his pillow the way it was.

_Next chapter…Rescue. What else? Please review, I'd appreciate it. _


	2. Of Flying Dogs and Motorcyles

A/N…disclaimer, don't own. Not much else to say, other than please review and thanks to Deidre of the Sorrows, ciberloco, Tanya J Potter, Neoma, Sexy Black, Katie0, and fath8252 for reviewing last chapter.

**Rainbow Over the Moon**

**Chapter 2; Of Flying Dogs and Motorbikes.**

Wednesday came and went in much the usual way Wednesdays did and Harry could barely contain his excitement. Harry had made sure all of his homework was complete so that there were no distractions during the rare time he had to spend with his godfather and most favouritest professor (who, he thought wryly, would've probably slaughtered him if such bad grammar appeared in an essay).

Midnight would arrive soon enough, but, until it did, Harry was left gazing out of the window, waiting for Sirius to show up, and being not entirely sure how said person was planning to 'bust him out.'

During the day, Harry had done jobs for his aunt and uncle, which mainly consisted of cleaning, something to be done around Dudley. Harry swore that if he didn't do it when Dudley stood up there would be a Dudley-shaped clean patch among the debris of pop cans and crisp packets. Dudley's diet had long since gone out the window.

Harry's most preferred chore was gardening. When the sun was beating down on his neck and he had dirt up to his elbows it made him feel alive. He liked the free rein he was more or less given when working in the garden. When cleaning indoors the orders given him were things such as 'clean the bathroom, boy' and there was only so many ways to clean a toilet. But in the garden his instructions wee to 'tidy' it or order it, and with this Harry could shift plants, prune and trim to his heart's content. This small liberty and space for imagination, meant the world to Harry, and that fact alone proves how monotonous and servile Harry's life with the Dursley's was.

As a result, the Dursley's garden was beautiful, something that Aunt Petunia took full credit for. As evidence to this, Aunt Petunia could be seen, at appropriate moments, puttering in the flower-bed under the living room window, an area Harry wasn't to touch. Situated here were Aunt Petunia's begonias, and a sorry site they were too. He had felt sorry for them once and watered them a little. When his uncle caught sight, he realized this was a mistake. Why Harry wasn't to touch them, he did not know, but he assumed it must be something to do with incomprehensible Dursley logic. Perhaps Aunt Petunia thought, on a subconscious level, that as she cared for the dying begonias she must have created the beauty of the rest of the garden. Harry assumed it would remain one of life's great mysteries.

Another of life's mysteries would be the reason for Uncle Vernon arriving home from work that evening and proceeding to beat Harry. This was a regular occurrence so Harry did not give it any particular thought and just endured the beating. In his mind he lumped the beating with the rest, the cause being unknown and, to anyone but Vernon, illogical and cruel. Unlike Harry however, the bush in the back garden quivered with rage and seemed to fight an internal war of whether or not to swallow Vernon Dursley right there. It didn't, but a pair of eyes and a motorbike headlamp peeped from its green depths, unknown to all but the great black dog now sniffing at the back door.

Harry pondered his day by his bedroom window, shifting every so often to relieve a bruise he was sitting on. As the majority of his body was bruised and sore, he had adopted a system of regularly changing which wounds he put pressure on and which he relieved. He was so absorbed in his thoughts and changing of position, he did not notice the shaggy black dog, which was slowly floating up the side of the house until it poked it's nose through the crack in the window.

He jumped far enough off the bed to crack his head of the ceiling and get his intestines in a knot, but Harry regained his feet and pushed open the window to allow the dog passage.

Once inside the dark room the dog morphed. Morphed until in its place was a tall, dark and scary man.

"Hello!" Sirius said in a comical voice. "What _are_ you doing up at this hour?" He said in a mock stern voice. The only response he got was to receive a low flying teenage boy 'round the middle where he promptly had the life squeezed out of him.

"Need…to…hack…breathe!" He wheezed. He was released.

"Pleased to see me then! Down to business. Everything in your trunk? Muggles appropriately knocked out?" Sirius grinned in an impish way. It suited him.

"Yep. Yep. And Yep. Can we get out of here now?" Harry asked, desperate to leave.

With only a wild grin as warning Sirius grabbed Harry by the scruff and chucked him out the window. His rapid descent down the side of the building was abruptly stopped, as was his cry of shock as he hung in midair. He slowly began to descend again as he looked around wildly in confusion. The ground met him gently but his terror was once again renewed when he looked up to see his trunk plummeting rapidly towards him, followed by a spread-eagled dog descending like an avenging angel. When the dog and trunk met the same fate as he, did his brain kicked in and he slowly thought 'levitating spell'. Duh! He still felt stupid when Remus stepped out of the bushes, wand aloft.

"Hiya Harry!" He said, obviously glad to see his young student and unofficial godson again and was consumed instantly in a crushing hug.

Lupin disappeared inside the bushes and came out holding the handlebars of a big, black, shiny motorcycle.

Harry's mouth dropped in shock and awe as he stared at the magnificent machine. The bike itself seemed oddly familiar, like a favourite dream he had once had but not experienced in a long while, and it oddly did not look out of place being held by the tall and lanky Remus Lupin, who was not the type one would expect to promote mototcycles.

"Cool!" Harry exclaimed and reached out a hand to touch the throbbing bike's leather seat.

"Hop on then Harry!" Sirius said to him as he straddled the huge machine. Harry complied and gasped when he felt the power of the engine underneath him.

"Sirius!" Remus called with a vaguely hopeful expression on his face. Sirius turned round and nodded to his friend.

"Yeah, you can borrow her later, I'll see you back home. Later mate!"

Remus blinked and popped away with a snap.

"Why didn't he come with us?" Harry asked.

"No room on the bike and he has to get some things sorted out before we get home. I promised to let him take her for a ride on his own later. Doesn't look like the biking type does he? But he loves this thing, helped me with the enchantments and everything."

"Oh." Another thing he hadn't expected from Remus Lupin.

"You being underage and can't apparate yet, and if I did it, it would set off blaring alarms in some poky Ministry office somewhere, I figured this would be the most fun way to get you home." Sirius said and revved the powerful engine and they roared off into the night. Harry decided he liked the word 'home' when Sirius or Remus said it.

They took off into the night, the black bike blending perfectly into the inky night sky .

Sometime later, over some field, Sirius said over his shoulder, "Did you leave a note?"

"No. They'll just be glad I'm gone!" Harry shouted back to Sirius. Between the roar of bike's engine and the wind rushing past his ears, it was hard to hear anything.

"Good job I left them a little curse to remind them then, isn't it!" Sirius said with a grin.

"Sirius!!! You can't hurt them." Harry cried out. As much as he wanted to hurt them, they had taken care of him. As much as he detested the idea, he might have to go back next year and he told Sirius as much.

"You're too good for your own good Harry. Don't worry, they won't remember it by next week. Its just a little engorgement charm, so the odd limb or two will be the size of a watermelon." He said with a mischievous grin, that Harry could sense even through the back of Sirius' head.

Harry furrowed his brow and tried to work out how big Dudley would be had he been hit with the curse, the majority of the parts of him was already bigger than a watermelon.

Not long after that, Sirius pulled the bike to a halt in a small garden, in front of a small sort of grey splotch Harry assumed was a house in the dark surroundings.pretty little cottage. It seemed to be situated in a large clearing surrounded by trees. Harry wished he had paid attention to where they had been flying over, he had no idea where in the country they were.

"Where are we? And what time is it?" Harry was looking around him curiously, like a foal in a new place.

"A forest. What does it look like Harry." Sirius said in a 'well duh' kind of voice.

Harry was about to retort, but thought his chance of winning the argument was somewhat low and went back to studying the cottage.

It was two stories. Where the two sides of the roof met was a small window with ivy trailing from it. The red bricks of the house were worn and spattered with the odd white brick. Like the Burrow, the house didn't seem quite straight and the chimney was most definitely crooked. The garden was well tended and large. Sirius led Harry to the front door and pushed him through into the kitchen. Remus was standing by a counter top and when he turned there were two mugs of tea in his hands.

"Hey, good timing," He said and passed both Harry and Sirius one.

Harry looked around the room and what he could see of the inside of the cottage. It was the definition of lovely. It was warm and cozy, and slightly messy yet still clean, and had a well-used quality which gave the house the feeling of being loved.

His old professor stood watching him, as if waiting for his approval.

"Wow! This place is ace!" Remus blushed. "Feels like… feels like a family lives here." Harry added with a touch of melancholy in his voice.

"We are a family, now that you're here, sort of!" Sirius' bubbly voice announced. "Sit down, kiddo." And seated himself at the scrubbed wooden table. Harry perched nervously on the edge of a seat.

"Relax Harry. It's just us." Remus quiet voice said from somewhere behind him. A plate of biscuits appeared on the table and Remus sat down opposite Sirius, leaning his arms on the table in front of him. His sleeves were rolled up to the elbow, and Harry noticed with a wince the jagged scars running across them.

"He's scared your going to give him detention, Professor." Sirius said and laughed.

"I never had to give you detention did I Harry? And you can relax you know. I'm not going to bite you or use you as a chew toy or anything." Remus said with a wry grin. Had it appeared in one of his letters, Harry would have been biting his pillow to stop his laughs from being heard, as it was he just snorted and then clapped his hand over his mouth in horror.

"I'm sorry…I didn't mean…its not that…but you're my professor and I didn't want to…and I hardly know either of you." He stammered.

"Harry, I'm not a professor. I don't care what you say to me. Neither does Sirius. You'll get to know us, so make yourself at home." Remus ordered and watched Harry carefully, when he didn't relax he lowered his voce and growled "Do it." Drawing out the words and Harry settled into his chair more comfortably and took a biscuit.

"That's better. You don't have this problem with me in your letters. Thank you, by the way. I wasn't sure if you wanted to…know, write to, me or anything." Remus said.

"Of course I want to!" Harry exclaimed speaking louder than a hush for the first time that night. "I mean…you were the best professor we've ever had. And you're the first link I had to my parents…no offence Sirius."

"None taken, I was meant to be a crazed Death Eater out for your blood at the time, apparently." Sirius said around his mug of tea. Harry laughed.

"This is your house, Remus?" Harry asked, starting a conversation for the first time in days.

"Yeah. It's not much but…I built it myself. A few years before I worked at Hogwarts. Explains why its wonky. Magic tends to do that, though I did a lot by hand." Remus explained.

"Really? Wow! That's…that's amazing." Harry said and looked around the room. The walls in here were red brick above the counter, which was like the table, a bright beech, scrubbed clean and varnished. Wooden cupboards in that same bright wood hung on the walls above the bench and a sink was sunk in one end. There weren't any appliances, but then what else would you expect from a wizard. The other end of the kitchen opened out into a living room, and from here Harry could see the end of a squishy looking sofa.

"Thanks…occupational hazard of being a werewolf, landlords tend to hate you." He said wryly.

Harry laughed quietly and drunk his tea watching Remus and Sirius. Remus didn't look much healthier than he had a year ago, still exhausted and slightly ill, but then, it had been the full moon last night. The patched and tattered robes weren't in sight though, and currently Remus sported similarly worn jeans and a long sleeve t shirt, same as Sirius. Both men were tall, and lanky, and Harry supposed shared clothes, particularly now Sirius' previously strong and well built form had been shrunk down to his bare skeleton, allowing him to wear the clothes which fit Remus. The werewolf had always been thin to an almost painful extent, from the lycanthropy and extraordinarily strong for the same reason. Sirius on the other hand had been muscular and larger, but his incarceration in Azkaban had atrophied his muscles and left him much the same shape and form as his thin friend. Harry was surprised at their height actually, both easily reaching 6'3 or 4 and felt propelled to ask about his father.

"Short arse!!!" both men had laughed immediately, and sobered quickly realising there was no one there to defend himself, and Harry wondered whether either had quite gotten over his mother and father's untimely demise.

"Sorry Harry. James wasn't really short at all…but us two, being the unnaturally long creatures we are, towered over him by about 5 inches. So he was average really, and so was your mother. Which unfortunately leaves you in the state of remaining of average height." Sirius explained and allowed himself a small smile for James.

Remus had smiled too and rubbed an area on his shoulder fondly, before finally speaking.

"I'm sure you're tired Harry…I'll show you your room and then you can see the rest of the house tommorow?" he asked.

"Yeah…that'd be great." Harry replied and smiled, a true smile for once.

The staircase was narrow and bent around a corner halfway up and if Harry was honest, slightly crooked, but performed it's duty as a stair case well and conveyed them into a short corridor with four doors leading off it.

"OK, Harry…that's the bathroom." Sirius said and pointed out the first door on the left.

"My room…and Sirius'" Remus added pointing out both doors in turn. "If you need anything then feel free to come to either of us…I know that you…may not be comfortable with me but…I'm here, ok?"

Harry nodded and said quietly "Thanks. It's appreciated."

Further along the corridor was another door, on the very end of the hall.

"Your room, is this one." Sirius pushed open another door.

"I have a room?" Harry asked as Remus pushed him through the door.

"You don't at the Dursley's?" Remus questioned back.

"Yeah, I guess. It's formally known as Dudley's second bedroom." Only now was it that he actually looked round the room.

Its neutral walls sported burgundy trim and pretty gold stencilling. The bedspread was deep red with gold Gryffindor lions on it. The floor was left as floorboards, but finished with a wax or polish or some sort and added a rustic feel to the room. Harry felt at home in it at once.

Harry just stood and gazed around. To him this was the most brilliant thing he had ever seen. There was a bookshelf in the corner with books already on it and a small desk in the corner, which had some interesting whirring objects perched on its polished wooden surface.

"M...my room?" Harry stood in the middle of the room gaping like a rather stupid fish.

"Don't you like it?" Remus looked terrified.

"Oh god! No! Professor, I love it! Did you do it?" Harry frantically explained.

"Sirius helped when he got here and put in some 'helpful' comments before that too."

Harry looked pensive for a moment, contemplating something or other then stepped forward and flung his arms around a startled Remus. He was soon spluttering the same choking protests Sirius had at the Dursley's.

"I'm sorry…I mean…sorry." Harry stammered as he realised how surprised Remus looked.

"Harry…Harry, calm down. It's alright…it's nice to be hugged. I'm just not used to it." Remus insisted and put his hands on Harry's shoulders, forcing him to look at him.

"It's just…well…thank you!" Harry gushed. "I want…" he began and then shrugged as he didn't know how to express what he wanted.

"It's ok, Harry. Now come on…we'll help you unpack tomorrow if you like, but sleep for now." Remus ordered and pointed to some pajama's sitting on the bed.

Harry knew he was wearing his 'goldish' look again, but didn't much care, he was having trouble comprehending how much care had been put into planning his stay…or whatever this was.

"Er..th..thanks." he said.

"Welcome. Now we'll leave you be."

"Night Harry." Sirius added from behind Remus. He had stood watching Harry curiously since he had seen the room and was now troubled by something.

"Night Sirius. Night Remus…thank you both of you." But the two men simply nodded and back out of the room.

"What was that about?" Remus said when they reached the corridor.

Sirius' troubled look had returned and he thought a moment. "We know he's is neglected by the Dursley's…" he said, anger tinting his voice. "And I think…well, he wants a family very badly. And we are the nearest he has to that, because James and Lils were our best friends. But he is confused by you…tomorrow we should explain some stuff to him." Sirius said in a wise sort of voice.

Remus nodded and sighed. "I wish we could give him James and Lily rather than our memories and perceptions of them."

"Me too mate, me too." Sirius said sadly and ran a hand through his hair. "Well…I'm off to bed. It's been sort of overwhelming…today I mean."

"I know. But I am going to be downstairs for a bit. I'll see you in the morning, Paddy, alright?" Remus replied.

"You should sleep Rem…last night was hard on you." Sirius said with a worried frown.

"Stop worrying. I'm fine. Night Padfoot."

"Ok. Night Moony. Don't stay up too long. Those bags under you eyes, very unappealing."

Remus laughed as went downstairs and left Sirius standing in the hall, concerned frown on his face as he pondered both his best friend, and the boy who was, hopefully, sleeping on the other side of the wall.


	3. In The Morning

**A/N. Nothing in particular to say, but big, big thank you to everyone who reviewed. Ms. Padfoot. Miss Anonymous, BlackPotterGrl, jenni, abesapien, Sea Mitress, dark-elf, Doodle bug, Mac1, tessbomb65 (not judging, I swear, so long as I can keep you reading). Fath8252, sunnysparkles, keri. **

**Ms Padfoot – I know who you are. Don't try and hide. **

**Miss Anonymous – Thank you for the praise! Honoured that you think I am doing them justice!**

**BlackPotterGrl – wow…awesome, thanks. To save you looking everyday to see if I have updated, I'll send you an email with a link on it. (If you like). Or Author Alerts work pretty well…not sure how they work though. (And the plan is to update once a week…depending on demand…but then, I am the world's most unreliable person.)…just heard I was on your favourites! Thanks!**

**abesapien – glad I made you laugh. I laugh at what I write sometime…or the vision I get, and you laughing too makes me sound a little bit less sad. Thank you for saying you think I write the character well. My characters tend to become OOC cos I try to get rid of their imperfections but…dark-elf told me Harry was very angry in OotP and I wrote him not quite that pissed with the world, which he has a right to be but never the less. As you can, this don't quite fit with OotP. **

**Doodlebug – nice name. Did you get your cousin? Rubber gloves can leave a sting. **

**dark-elf – what a review! Thank you! Very helpful to me. I know which bits in the story are a hit now. I am thrilled you like Remus' sense of humour, he is my favourite character, and I hate it when writers make him seem so wet! Later on you might see my love for flashbacks, and hot tempered and careless Sirius (preAzkaban Paddy as I call him) will make his appearance. My fave after Remus, I see him as being a hot headed and impetuous and a little bit careless and selfish, but a lot of fun and mischievous, but with this romantic side people rarely see, a real dreamer. And now, after 12 years with Dementors, he is a bit more serious (sorry) and worries about his loved ones a lot more…because of what the Dementors did to him. Not exactly sure what Sirius and Remus are going to explain, well I am, just not sure how to do it. Grr. **

**fath8252 – to save you checking do you want an email to say I've updated?**

**sunnysparkles – I'm on someone's favourites? Cool. Very honoured. Erm…stories like this? As in…Sirius and Remus with Harry, without being on some slash/incest website (RLSB…good, RLHPSB….weird) and Remus/Sirius not having a kid or being dead or whatever? I'll recommend Harry Potter and the Emerald Tablet anyway, and one by lukatrina…can't think of it's name. **

**Rainbow Over The Moon**

**Chapter Three; In the Morning. **

The next morning Harry woke to the sound of bird's tweeting. Confused for a moment as to where he was (birds didn't tend to tweet in a nice and typically joyful manner at Privet Drive) he sat up and looked around. The room was his, as in, it felt like it belonged to him rather than 'his on loan'. He was at Sirius' and Remus' house. The Cottage in The Woods, as he had named it last night. He stood up and noticed his pajamas reached his ankle adequately, but also sat comfortably on his waist too. Last night he had been much too tired and overwhelmed to really think on subjects such as pajamas in any kind of detail beyond thanking the giver of said garments, presumably with the intention of replacing the scruffy much too big and much too short (even for him) 'things' he usually slept in (an original number from the Dudley Range which had fitted afore mentioned whale-boy when he was 9).

He recalled the room from last night with relative clarity and found in the bright light of mid morning, or so he guessed, he loved it even more. He couldn't believe Remus had done this for him. It meant he wanted him here, both of them did. This wasn't just some order from Dumbledore, and on that point, Harry wondered if they actually had permission from Dumbledore. Deciding not to question such generosity currently, or at all if he could enjoy it for any extended period of time, Harry settled for looking out of the window to see where exactly he was in daylight.

The view from his side of the house happened to be of a meadow type field, which led off to what appeared to be a moor. This did not exactly help him in deciding where in England he was, but he did figure wherever they were, was pretty isolated. The view from the window was extended and quite breath taking however, with long grass blowing softly in a summer breeze with purple and grey moor heather blurring into a large mass beyond that. Harry decided he liked the country, nice and isolated, and quiet. Away from reporters and the rest of the world that Harry didn't really want to talk to right now.

He smiled as he realised last night wasn't a dream, and he really wasn't stuck in the middle of Surrey with his accursed relatives, and on that thought he went downstairs, neglecting, in his joy, to get dressed.

This turned out not be such an error in ways as he found Remus and Sirius in similar attire sitting at the kitchen table both contemplating cups of coffee and quietly talking to each other. Conversation didn't stop as he walked in, something of an unusual occurrence to Harry, but Sirius did look up (Remus had his back to the stair case) and say "Morning Harry. There's orange juice in that jug, pull up a seat. We were just discussing the plan for the holiday."

"Good morning." Harry replied happily and poured himself some juice.

"You look happy." Remus stated as he passed him some recently browned toast.

"Just…being away from the Dursley's and being with people who actually want me around…big mood improver. I'm sorry if I was moody last night." He said honestly, and watched with tight nerves as he waited for a reply.

"Good point." Remus said, and Harry relaxed a little. "You weren't moody last night. Overwhelmed I'm guessing. But I am glad you know you're welcome here and to make yourself at home. This is your home too." He continued.

Rather than give Harry time to reply to that statement, Sirius jumped in and proceeded to explain the previous topic of conversation.

"Remus and I were discussing your living conditions. With the Dursley's, I mean." Sirius clarified. Harry frowned a bit at this, worried about where it all was leading.

"I thought you might get to that eventually." Harry said, hesitantly, glancing from Remus to Sirius.

"Well, as inappropriate as it may be to discuss this in pajamas, I doubt that you mind, much. But Remus and I, want to make you an offer." Sirius paused, unsure about how Harry would react to their offer.

"Okay...I really don't mind what we're wearing or how early it is...it's just us right?" Harry ventured to say, and smiled to himself when he saw Remus brighten when he referred to them all of the as 'just us'.

'They really do want me here! They want me to feel at home!' He realized as an unfamiliar feeling of belonging settling itself into his chest.

As he had been adjusting to the new sensation Sirius' words had created, Sirius had continued to speak, "...but there's a lot more to this."

"Er...sorry Sirius. What was that?" Harry blinked back to the present and blushed, embarrassed as he realized he had completely tuned Sirius out.

"It's alright Harry. I was just saying, well, we only got permission to kidnap you last night…that's where Remus went. Good job he…Dumbledore…said yes, really. But we need to work on some wards and things, and we can make them stronger if you help, particularly if you and Remus work together, you being the one they are designed to protect…and good ole Moony here being a Protective Spells and Wards extraordinaire. Bet you didn't know that…he helped repair the wards around Hogwarts…" Sirius said as Remus blushed at Sirius' complimenting. "Anyway…he is a genius with wards, and if you help set your own protective wards it will make it next to impossible for anyone or anything to get in here." Sirius declared. "We can…I say we, I mean he, can explain the technicalities, but I am not a Ward Master…not my speciality, besides that, it's mind numbing." He added, pulling an extremely bored face at the end.

"Ok…cool. But what about the laws…underage magic?" Harry asked, again honoured by the precautions taken to protect him.

"Again I refer you to our Resident Wards expert, and local rule breaker…Remus Lupin." Sirius said and pointed dramatically to a chuckling Remus.

"Ignore him. I've set a Masking ward which should let you, and him, use magic." Remus explained. "What…let me guess, someone told you stories about me being the law abiding Marauder?" he continued when he saw the shocked look on Harry's face.

"Well, he ain't, trust me. He just lies better than me or James ever did." Sirius interposed with a chuckle, but then sobered and instructed. "Don't go getting any ideas. Only stupid rules are meant to be broken. Most should be obeyed. And there's a sentence I'd never thought I'd say."

Harry was, once again, shocked. No one had ever cared enough to give him rules to abide by.

"So that means you're stuck here with us for the rest of the summer kiddo." Remus said and grinned.

"Really? Brilliant!" Harry exclaimed. 'No more Dursleys.'

"Yep. Really. So…if we make an attempt in the clothing department, we can come help you unpack later, alright kiddo?" Remus affirmed, indicating their retired attire.

"Thanks. There's not exactly a lot but…" Harry said.

"Well, lets get these wards set. And then we can do that" Sirius had moved now and was standing beside Harry. The earlier questioning, or doubt, perhaps, he had over being found in pajamas in front of two people he generally wanted to impress and respect him flew out the window as he realised Sirius was wearing only his boxers, and a rather battered, faded red T shirt (the fact it was faded made it look pink). Stifling a snort (Sirius Black…infamous mass murderer…pink T shirt and boxers…) he glanced a look at Remus, and found the werewolf clothed in a very wrinkled and creased pair of cotton bottoms and a t shirt which was a garish, but again faded, combination of Gryffindor colours and declared on it's front 'Marauders! Waterfront Bash, 84.' Harry smiled, and reminded himself to ask what Waterfront Bash, 84 was, as he suddenly felt a whole lot more comfortable realising Remus and Sirius weren't expecting him to stand on propriety, and there offer to make himself at home, really was sincere.

Harry's musing came to an end when Sirius grabbed his arms and turned him bodily towards the stairs. "Come on…upstairs…clothes…go." Sirius ordered and frog marched Harry from the room, a laughing Remus following. ****

**………………………………………………………………………………………………………………**

Sirius, Remus and Harry and reconvened approximately five minutes, three shirts and three pairs of jeans later outside in the pretty little garden, which overlooked the expansive moor on one side and was shadowed by a towering forest on the other. Harry wandered around a little bit and dragged his hand through a tall bunch of flowers in a bed near the house, Lilies, he realised.

"Ok. Harry? Have you learnt anything about wards at school yet?" Sirius asked him.

Harry turned around and meandered back over to Sirius who was watching Remus walk around the house and apparently test the wards surrounding it.

"No…haven't even really done shields much yet. We'll get taught this in Defence right?" He replied.

"Yes, soon I should think." Sirius nodded. "Remus is testing the current wards right now. I am not sure what types there are up, but I doubt it will make sense to you until you learn it. All you need to worry about is keeping you wand with Remus and keeping a hold of him. OK?" Sirius explained.

"Right. OK." Harry nodded and committed to memory what Sirius had said. He watched Remus walk slowly around the edge of the garden, quite a way out from the house and his mouth fell open as the air and sky around them suddenly light up a dusty pink.

"It's alright Harry. Just one of the wards." Sirius explained. "Pretty really isn't it." He added and put a hand round Harry's shoulders as the wards flashed different array of soft colours.

Remus finished checking on the standing wards, a process he had been doing with a series of pokes and prods and had begun to jog back towards them.

He smiled as he came up next to them and cracked his fingers. Harry had watched him run quickly, from a fair distance away and he wasn't even out of breath. "I've checked the wards, they're fine, just as strong as when I put them up. So Harry…if you come over here…" Remus said pulling Harry towards the ward line again, Sirius trailing behind, watching. "…just grab my wand with your left hand…that's right…" Harry was much reminded of 'Patronus Training' as Remus once again become 'Professor Lupin'. But, Harry felt with a little smile, that he liked the man as 'Remus'. He snapped his mind back to the task at hand and listened to Remus tell him he would take hold of Harry's wand with his left hand, so their arms were crossed, and describe the incantations. It was fairly simple but the actual concentration and the pure magic it would take was something more than Harry had really done before. Remus assured him he could do it and that he'd be there to take most of the slack and contain the spell so nothing untoward became of any of them.

The spell began slowly and quietly, Harry and Remus' voices soft and unintrusive in the still calm of the countryside. Harry felt magic begin to be pulled from him and his fingers tingled. His left hand, the one holding Remus' wand, grew warm and began to burn as he felt Remus' own magic rush from it. It was an odd feeling, to have someone else's magic course through you, but it felt familiar and warm and more welcome than unpleasant.

From the dual wand points a golden web began to spread and branch out, like the cracking of glass. Harry felt himself bend back and have to push his wand into remaining in contact. He could feel sweat gather at his temples and his eyes narrowed in concentration as he focused on his and Remus' magic and what they were willing it to bend into.

The golden webs and strands of magic began to grow and arc upwards and outwards and spread to encompass a large area outside the cottage. Remus and Harry were still repeating the incantation, over and over and Harry was yelling with the force. The blood and flows of magic pounded in his ears and made his vision swim and cloud with odd colours of sparkling pink and green. Nextt o him, he could barely hear Remus' quiet voice say the Latin words with him, but he could feel a strong copious stream pour from his wand, whereas he was screaming and pushing and pushing to keep his own outpouring steady. Finally, through shuttered eyes he saw the wards touch down on the opposite side of the cottage, but still they kept the magic pumping. Harry felt close to passing out and felt Remus move to support him from behind. He appreciated the support and sagged onto him, even though Remus held the majority of the strands and was controlling the entire web. He said nothing, but for continuing with chanting. Harry had gone onto automatic and his lips were shouting as loud as they could over and over. Somewhere inside the huge golden dome Sirius was looking around in anticipation and encouraging Harry, shouting "Not much longer, Harry! Keep it going kid." And the occasional "Whoo! Go Remus!"****

They were having to push the web now, force it through the earth beneath them. Finally the tips of the golden strands poked up through the ground like new shoots and Remus pulled them up to join them back to their wands where they disengaged and pinged back to form a perfect sphere of golden webbing arcing over the house and disappearing into the ground. A huge flash sprang from the fibres of the ward and joined together, to form a smooth surface before being sucked back in and fading…sending Remus and Harry to the floor as it did.

Remus laughed and let out an "Oof!" as Harry landed on top of him. "You alright kiddo?"

Harry rolled off of Remus and flopped out flat on his back onto the grass. Looking at the huge blue dome above him. "Bloody hell!" he breathed.

"Ha. Figured you'd say that. Bit of an adrenaline rush eh?" Remus laughed lightly and sprang to his feet.

Harry opened his eyes and glared at him, 'Adrenaline rush, my arse!' he thought, he was bloody knackered.

But Remus just laughed and pulled Harry up, setting him onto his feet and pulling him through the just erected ward. Sirius met them inside it, invisible though it was, and hugged Harry.

"You did great!" he exclaimed. "Come on…I'll piggy-back you back to the house." He said and crouched down.

Harry blinked. He was overwhelmed to say the least and this latest revelation in the 'get closer to Remus and Sirius as 'godparents'' project had taken a new turn Harry hadn't quite expected.

"Go on Harry…sorry, I didn't really warn you it would take that much did I?" Remus said, and looked truly apologetic.

Sirius picked him up without Harry really realising, and he rested his head on Sirius' shoulder. He listened to Remus and Sirius mumble together quietly as they walked back to the house and felt the bumps and jolts in his ride lessen as he slowly slipped to sleep.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………...

He awoke on the sofa about an hour later to find a very guilty-looking Remus sitting over him, handing him a mug of what he presumed was tea.

"Sorry…" he said and looked even guiltier.

Harry sat up and rubbed his eyes, his head was clearer after a few sips of tea.

"No…it's alright. I figured it would be tiring. It's alright, really." Harry said and smiled.

"I'm sorry…I forget that wards are quite tiring and difficult…I'm just used to it, I guess. And you're only 14! I'm really sorry." He said.

"That was bloody amazing though…" Harry said.

"I know…try getting them things over a castle the size of Hogwarts." Remus said and made a face to express the difficulty of said task.

Harry nodded and drank the rest of his tea.

"Remus?" he asked slowly. "Thank you. For caring that much…thank you for putting up the wards and offering me your home." And he reached out to hug Remus tightly. Remus smiled and said quietly.

"Thank you for staying." And that to Harry said it all. He really was welcome here, he really was wanted.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………...

Remus left Harry to himself for a while, and disappeared into his study. Harry sat quietly, thinking to himself. He seemed to have a lot to think about at the moment and was quite absorbed in his thinking when Sirius came in and sat down next to him.

"Are you alright Harry?" he said and looked at him, assessing the damage.

"Yeah…that was kind of tiring though." Harry admitted.

"I know. I'm no good with wards, would have been in the same state." Sirius said. "He really is very sorry you know. Tore himself up when we got back in…thought you'd passed out. Got himself worked into a right little tizz." Sirius said laughing, and Harry laughed too and was once again consumed in his thoughts of being overwhelmed and a little shocked by the care Remus and Sirius bestowed in him. He'd never really been _wanted_ anywhere before.

"He's powerful isn't he…" Harry asked meaning Remus who was still holed up in his study, from which some loud and suspicious voices emitted, although he could not work out what they were saying.

"Remus? Yes. People don't always realise. So unassuming he is." Sirius answered in the affirmative.

"First time I saw him, he was holding the ball of flames in his hand. Looked well cool." Harry told him.

"Oh yeah! I remember that. You've heard about our little adventures, haven't you?" Harry nodded. "Well, we discovered a fair few useful tricks on our little escapades. We mastered the Animagus transformation, obviously. But we also found that Remus could do some cool stuff to fire…any fire, hold it, bend it, conjure it. Pretty powerful stuff." Sirius explained and his face took on an expression which suggested he was impressed.

"Can you do anything like that?" Harry asked, smiling.

"Me? No…no pyrotechinics. Nope, only Remus was the arsonist. But an…cough interesting predicament I found myself in one night found me wishing very much for a certain invisibility cloak, and there you go…poof. Just appeared…well I disappeared but you get my drift. If I think hard enough and screw my nose up like this…" He twisted his handsome face into a somewhat contorted expression. "I can…conjure…things. Very useful." And he held out his hand to display an apple Harry was sure hadn't been there before.

"Cool! Could…could my dad do anything?" Harry asked tentatively; he didn't know how Sirius felt about talking about his father.

"'Course he could. Immune to mind altering curses, Imperious, Cheering charms…Memory charms. All sorts. Also, pretty useful skill to have." Sirius explained brightly.

"Do you think he passed that onto me?" Harry asked, still listening to apparent argument in the study.

"Reckon so. You might just be a brilliant wizard yourself but you never can tell." Sirius explained. And Harry felt a warm, fuzzy sort of feeling in his chest. Pleased as punch from Sirius' compliment, and proud to have something of his dad in him.

"Sirius?" he asked.

"Yeah?" the man replied. His dark blue eyes were watching the study door now, and he too listened to the voices within. He seemed to know about it though, so Harry didn't let it worry him.

"Do…do I have anything of my mum in me?"

"Your eyes of course. Erm…not sure. The eyes. And your skill with your wand. Good aim and skilled, tricky movements. Lils was brilliant with Charms 'cause of that." He said.

Harry grinned, he loved t hear about his parents, and even more, to have parts of them in him. It felt more like they were there with him somehow.

"Come on. Let's go unpack your stuff." Sirius announced and pointed Harry in the direction of the stairs.

It was most likely a tact to get Harry away from the argument in the study, and he assumed that was because it involved him, and this did not make for a happy Harry thought. So he stopped thinking about it.

So he and Sirius began organizing Harry's room and putting things how he wanted them. He didn't want to change much, just put his things in his wardrobe and dresser and organize homework into a pile on his desk. Remus joined them about half an hour in. The rifling through Harry's things brought conversations which to most would have been routine or nothing special, but to Harry, brought a twinge to his heart that told him he belonged, and that Remus and Sirius cared more than keeping him alive and relatively unmaimed.

On unpacking his clothes Sirius had sat back on his heels and dubiously surveyed the frayed and tattered pair of jogging bottoms he held. "Harry…you have a decent amount of clothes here…but look at the state! They're massive! And all these holes…" he poked a finger through one in the buttock area.

"They're Dudley's…course he has a huge wardrobe, everything he could want. Hence I have last years equally huge range, they don't fit him anymore. Actually, the stuff in there that will fit me will be a fair few years old. He was in age 14 – 15 by the time he was 11. And the holes…" here he shrugged, after explaining matter of fact, and not a bit sarcastic his garments size, origin and current condition.

"Erg…well, I won't have a godson dressed in these rags. You need some style mate…" Sirius exclaimed and tossed the bottoms to one side with a disgusted expression on his face. He rummaged again in the trunk and cautiously withdrew, dangling from one finger, a very cheap and old pair of y-fronts. "And I will not have you wearing _these_. Boxers are the only way to go Harry, my boy. Imagine the embarrassment of having a gush of wind up your robes and these…these…atrocities exposed to the wizarding public. No, we'll have to go shopping. Start on those missed birthdays and get you some decent gear!"

"Er…Sirius? You can't exactly…you know…and what about money? I mean…the Potter vault has plenty in it…but I don't want to squander that on…" he trailed off, feeling much embarrassed, especially as Remus had stopped unpacking books to listen.

"Ah, yes. Well, to put it bluntly. I'm loaded. And it's main purpose it to spoil you with. And then there's the hunks of cash from the _main_ Potter vault intended to aid in our 'care' of you." He said and screwed up his nose as he thought of the rich little snots he had known, but reassured himself with the thought, Harry wasn't like that, no matter how much he spoiled him.

"Very true. And now the Order, which you're not meant to know about, has been reformed…well, there's certain rewards for the 'risks' we go through." Remus explained humbly and looked down.

Harry nodded, not liking this financial topic and so changed it. "You seem to know a lot about 'fashion', Sirius…" and left the question open ended.

"Ah…well, I liked to think I was a bit of alright in the fashion department back in my day. Knew what to wear, had a pretty good do on me…" Sirius explained and shrugged.

"He was a right dandy." Remus said and laughed. "Wouldn't be seen dead in any of your dad's clothes. Or mine. And his hair! Never touched the hair…oh no. Fate worse than death, that was."

"Aw, come on. I wasn't that bad. But the bit about James' clothes is true. Horrible fashion sense…erg." Sirius said and laughed. He stood up and looked into the mirror. "What do you think Harry? Have I got a chance…all these boyish good looks and charms?" Sirius asked.

Harry just laughed at him as he preened himself in the mirror. Remus watched him and snorted.

"Oh yeah…all that boyishness, you'll have all the 13 year olds falling at your feet." He jibed.

"Oi. Watch it you. Mr Professorness Sir. I bet all the little firsties had a crush on you…"

"Shut up dog breath. I was their teacher…no one fancies their teacher." Remus retorted.

Harry laughed at the pair and added, "Actually, half the girls in our year all fancied you a bit. They all wanted to take care of you and bring you tea and tissues…you know, cos you always looked poorly." Harry said laughing. Remus went bright pink and Sirius set himself about laughing uproariously and Remus glared at him.

"Look. You. I seem to remember a certain black haired, blue eyed little kid who had a bit of a thing for Professor McGonagall." Remus said with a certain sense of victory, as Harry screwed up his face in disgust and Sirius flushed a hot red.

"Professor…McG…McGonagall….oh…oh…" Harry gasped and curled up on the floor trying to stop laughing.

As Sirius was much too embarrassed to do much else but sputter and stammer, and Remus and Harry were not quite getting enough oxygen from laughing to do anything, they had to out wait the hilarity before going back to their tasks. And even then Remus and Harry were indisposed to fits of giggling, particularly if they had looked at Sirius, who was slowly returning to a normal colour.

They eventually finished and Remus disappeared off to make tea. When that had been done and the three people in the cottage were quite full, they retired to the little living room and relaxed in peace together.

Harry in particular was thinking quite hard, with a pensive look on his face as he curled up in an armchair.

"What you thinking about Harry?" Sirius asked, from his stretched out position on the sofa.

"Just…stuff. I guess. Things that have happened, you know today and things…" he said.

"Like what?" this from Remus who was lying across another armchair, impossibly long legs draped over one arm.

"Things that're changing…or that I didn't expect."

"Oh?"

"And…and I wanted to ask about…my Mum and Dad…I mean, if you don't wanna answer…or…" he said quickly.

"It's alright Harry. It's ok to ask, I don't mind talking about them…I've gotten over what happened…moved on, whatever you like to call it. I only really have good memories…and I like to talk about those…" Sirius said. "I want you to ask…"

"I still miss them. I really, really do. I've been alone, we both have, for a very long time. But it will be nice to remember and share the memories…" Remus said quietly. "And you're so like him, you so very like James. But there's…huge, huge differences from what's happened to you…or the Dursley's…or whatever…but you're your own person…very much so…" he added, not entirely composed but then…

"And that…things…like that. I keep finding things out I totally didn't expect from you!" Harry said, sitting up.

"I think there's some things we have to explain, right Harry? You're confused by this completely new situation and you don't quite understand how to act or what to expect?" Sirius asked. Harry nodded slowly.

"Harry, I want you to understand that this is more than a promise to your father…yes, we did promise him. He knew he was in danger, all of you, and he asked us both, to take care of you should anything happen to he and Lily. But this is more than our duty to him…we care about _you, _Harry Potter. Not the son of James…there's a lot more to it." Remus explained, sitting forwards and imploring with his hands.

"And I think that's thrown you as well…you know I am your godfather, it's written in both James and Lily's wills, but so is Remus', it's just not allowed by the Ministry. James asked us both. It's hard for people to understand the…bond, I suppose…we shared. More than friends. More like brothers, arguments and all. So that's how it was all planned, Uncle Moony and Uncle Padfoot. But you know what happened to that. And I think that what we, myself for sure, want to try and get to being…a family."

"Me too." Remus said, nodding fervently. "I'm sorry I've never told you, I was as good as your godfather as well…it wasn't the right time for anyone…"

Harry nodded his understanding and sat back into his chair, thinking, again.

The room fell silent and three occupants sat in a comfortable silence, reflecting on the latest revelations of the night.


	4. Home is Home and Life is Life

**A/N. Grin. Oops. Been a while since I updated then eh? Sorry. I don't like this chapter so I was trying to make it better. Then I couldn't so I gave up. Then my email broke. Then I forgot. Then I just didn't. But here you go, and I'll get the next one up as soon as. No reviews replies this chapter haven't got the time right now, but thank you to you all anyway, I love the reviews your sending and if there a question you want answered then ask again (if you even remember what you wrote last time) and I'll do replies next time ok? Or email me. Or IM at MSN, name **** (I think). Enjoy and R and R!**

**Rainbow Over The Moon**

**Chapter 4: Home is Home and Life is Life**

Friday morning dawned and Harry meandered down the stairs, again in his pajamas, once he smelled the tempting lure of bacon.

He arrived in the kitchen and found Remus frying up bacon, sausage, egg and tomatoes all at once. He skilfully slid the mass onto a plate and passed it to Harry who sniffed it appreciatively. Apparently, cooking was one of Remus' many skills.

Harry tucked in while Remus repeated the procedure for Sirius and himself, and the pair sat down to join him.

As Remus and Sirius polished off the last of their meal and began to fight over the last sausage, Harry was still fighting his way through the mass of food on his own plate.

"So…" he began as he finally gave up on the eating thing. Sirius and Remus shared a look. "What're we doing today?"

"Whatever you want to…it's absolutely chucking it down, so outside is probably not the most brilliant of ideas." Sirius said, leaning back and patting his full stomach. He was filling out a good bit and now, and was almost back to his pre-Azkaban brawniness, and didn't fit Remus clothes anymore either.

"Can…can I have a look at some of the books in the study, Remus?" He asked, not wanting to be rude or presumptuous.

"Of course. You don't have to ask."

Harry grinned. "Cool. I'm interested in a bit of magical theory and sometimes I don't understand what the teachers, especially Professor McGonagall, are talking about because I don't know why the things happen. Plus…OWL year, I should probably try and get a background understanding." Harry explained.

"I had problems with that too. But it clicked one day really suddenly. And then most things make a bit more sense." Remus said, sympathetically.

"See even genius Remus had problems in school. I never totally understood it until I tried to teach it to Peter, and that helped me understand what I was doing and what was inside of me and all sorts…" Sirius added his two bob.

"I just think it'll really help to know why a certain incantation is used to do a certain thing to something…and then I can use that theory to apply to something else and not have to remember every spell under the sun." Harry said.

"I'll tell you what helped me a lot with that…Latin. I learnt a bit of Latin one summer." Sirius thought for moment and then added. "I wasn't a geek or anything, but, you have no idea how boring my summers were. The idea of me learning Latin of my own free will should give you some clue." Sirius said and screwed up his nose.

"Yeah, I didn't really think you were really into books or anything." Harry said.

"Me? No way. Only just skated by through school thanks to charm and the amount of plotting and pranking we did. In fast that's probably the only reason any of us passed out exams." Sirius said. He sat forward and lent his elbows on his knees as if he were about to tell a story. "I just smiled my way through and learnt everything by using magic in pranks. Remus has a brain like a sponge and can remember what he learnt in lessons exactly. Never needed to revise. Probably why he's such a good teacher. James was just clever and liked to know everything. Peter…Peter, well he was a bit thick. Another reason the rest of us passed, we taught the lot to him twice over."

Remus nodded his agreement. Harry rested his head on one hand and thought for a moment. "You know, having you two around could be useful." He commented. Harry had in fact been hanging onto every word. Having the best professor ever at hand was not an opportunity a smart young fellow, such as himself would ignore, and he was drinking in the learnables as much as he could before he had to face the inadequacies and idiocies (and sheer incompetence) that was the trend with some Hogwarts' professors.

Remus slapped his hand on the table suddenly and stood up. "Right…find clothes…find pen…" and with that he wandered off, presumably to get dressed, muttering to himself all the way.

"He may be a genius Harry, but I reckon he's lost the plot." Sirius said matter of fact with a sharp nod of his head. .

…………………………………………………………………………..

"You two and my Mum and Dad, and Snape, I'm guessing, were all in the same year at school right?" He said and leaned back in his chair in the study later that day.

"Yep, your Dad was…no, wait, Peter was the oldest…rat…then your Dad, then your Mum, I think, then Remus, then me." Sirius ticked the details off on his fingers, he was sitting on a pillow on the floor and stacking books.

"Yeah…Siri was the little baby of the group." Remus added as he passed around more tea, which Harry noted with a smile was just the way he liked it. It hadn't taken Remus long to catch onto that; two sugars and dead milky. Remus returned to his desk chair, and swivelled in it, pushing himself from side to side with his legs.

"Oi…as I recall, I wasn't the last one to do 'it'. So don't go calling me 'baby'." Sirius exclaimed as Remus stuck his tongue out at him.

"Well neither was I, so stop looking at me like that…" Remus shot back.

"Do I wanna hear this conversation?" Harry put in.

"Erm…well, let's just say, Peter got very lucky one night with a very drunk Hufflepuff." Remus added. Harry scowled at the mention of the rat.

"Harry…he wasn't always a traitor…I know he ruined your life, he ruined all our lives, but he was there in our past. You need to get used to hearing him come up in conversation. The Peter we knew, wasn't the Pettigrew rat you know." Remus said with a seriousness and wisdom that sounded extremely powerful in his soft voice.

Sirius' eyes took on a haunted look and he said nothing as Remus continued. "I had a lot of time to think after the time in the Shrieking Shack. Cursing his name every time we want to bring up a part of our history won't catch him. He's paid his penance by suffering at the hands of his 'Lord'. You saw him. Don't get me wrong, I still hate the conniving little shit, but I won't smear my past, my memories, our memories, with what a future Peter Pettigrew would do."

Sirius still said nothing, but his eyes filled in once again and returned to their normal blue as he reflected on something Harry could take a decent guess at.

In the comfortable quiet, Harry's thoughts managed to meander back to where they had been in the conversation before. "Hang on…so that means…my Dad was the last one to…you know. I always thought he was a bit…of a ladies man."

"Ahh…he was, at least until it came to being serious. But for some reason, in a sweet sort of way, your Mum, was his first time. Course, this got him no end of ribbing from me…but there you go. I wasn't going to pass up an opportunity like that now was I?" Sirius said and gave a hearty chuckle, enjoying the memory and purposefully not becoming morose as he thought on their lost friend.

Harry looked like he found that notion sweet, but too informing at the same time. "Ok, sweet, but that brought up some images I didn't really need." Harry frowned in confusion. It normally hurt to talk, or even think about the parents he never knew, but Remus and Sirius, somehow…their presence made the memories nicer, more real. But at the same time, it gave him a new pain to deal with, he couldn't have found this out for himself…he never knew his parents, and never missed them in that way. Now he knew there were things to miss. He quickly shook it off and pushed the conversation forward. "How old were you when I was born?"

"Erm…well, Lily was about what…seven months at your twentieth?" Sirius asked Remus, "So they were all twenty, I was nineteen."

"Whoa…you were like… still kids!" Harry said. He hadn't realized.

"Children were something of a valuable and precious gift during a war." Remus said cryptically.

"Wait…so that means you two are only thirty-five?" Harry asked.

"Only thirty-five? Why? How old do we look?" Sirius exclaimed. "Besides, I'm only thirty-four." He added proudly.

"Only for another month, and Sirius, if you think about it, twelve years in Azkaban…" Sirius shuddered, "And thirty odd years of monthly transformations, don't exactly promote ageless appearances." Remus said and waved his hand over his face.

"Too true, old friend, too true. Perhaps we shall just wither away. Slip away into the afterlife. Maybe we won't even notice." Sirius wailed dramatically. "Hey…then we would be like Binns. Do you remember that?" He said dropping his melodramatic air as he started laughing. Remus thought for a moment and then joined him.

"What?" asked Harry who was confused by the hilarity of the situation.

"Oh, sorry Harry. It was our fifth year. Must have been January, winter, definitely and we were in History of Magic. And Binns was late. He hadn't shown up. So Professor McGonagall, who was Deputy Head then too, comes rushing in and asks us to go back to the common room for that lesson. So as we were trying to find out why, Professor Binns comes in behind her…looking very white and transparent. No one ever looks at the man, this must have been the only time ever, all eyes were on him and…" Remus broke down laughing again.

"And he says…open your books to page ninety-three. Please be quiet, I'm not feeling too good!" Sirius broke too, but gasped out, "So McGonagall jumped out of her skin and rushed out of the room, shouting for Professor Dumbledore!" and he broke down completely as well, Harry joining them.

"He comes in through the blackboard now you know." Harry said, wiping his eyes under his glasses.

"Yeah, he started doing it a couple of lessons later. That was probably after McGonagall convinced him he was dead. It was announced at dinner later that day, that she was delighted to tell us that Professor Binns had unfortunately died in his sleep, but would carry on teaching so there would be no changes to our curriculum." Sirius said.

"While we're in here, is there any homework you want to get out of the way, Harry?" Remus said as he stacked some books to one side.

"I dunno, I've more or less done my homework, but I think Potions needs improving and I want do some more work on Defence, except, I don't know who we'll be giving the work to, seeing as the last Defence teacher was a Death Eater acting as a paranoid old Auror." He said as he picked up his own stack of books.

"There's a load of books in here what'll help with that. And us of course…I can help with Defence, so can Sirius." Remus said as he shoved some books back onto a dusty shelf and sneezed.

"Why?"

"I used to be an Auror you know. So did your Dad. Officially anyway, technically, your Mum and Remus here were too. They had been trained for it as part of the Order of the Phoenix." Sirius explained. "But Remus couldn't be Registered Auror, because of the werewolf 'legislation laws'." He drawled sarcastically and rolled his eyes at the mention. "And your Mum was kept as the pretty secretary in the ministry who people didn't mind their tongues around, while she secretly cracked open hundreds of current cases." He cackled at the thought.

"I've heard of that. The Order, I mean. Kinda like Dumbledore's secret army of the light." Harry admitted.

"Yeah, where did you hear that? Not many people know about the Order." Sirius frowned.

"Erm, partly because of the visions I get from Voldemort, you know, through the scar. And because of what Dumbledore said last year…about the old crowd." Harry replied.

"Oh, right. The visions…how bad do they get?" Remus asked with a frown to match Sirius'. Both deepened as Harry described the visions.

"They're not too bad I guess…the revels…they're the worst. And when he does the Cruciatus torturing thing, that batters." He mumbled, focusing on his hands.

"Urgh, we staked out a revel once for the Order. Had nightmares about it for weeks." Sirius said with another shudder.

"I remember that…horrible. There's too many a night one of us woke up screaming. That's one bloody good thing about sharing a house…there's people around. But…let's not talk about it…lighter topic of conversation if you please." Remus put in, pouring an obscene amount of sugar into his tea.

Harry felt comforted by the short comments the two men made. It made him feel a little more secure knowing he wasn't the only one to suffer nightmares, even if the visions were his speciality alone. 'Fun fun joy joy.' But like Remus said, he snapped his thoughts away from that dark topic and searched for a lighter one.

"What's Waterfront Bash 84?" Harry asked, remembering Sirius' T shirt.

Remus and Sirius looked at each other twice before either replied.

"We'll tell you when you're older." They said simultaneously, and shared another look, small grins playing about their lips.

"Tell me!" Harry implored.

"Sorry. Can't. Not old enough." Sirius said.

"Yes I am! Please…." He begged and pulled puppy dogs eyes.

"No, your just and iddy biddy baby. And we wouldn't dream of exposing your delicate consitution to such things." Remus added theatrically.

Harry pouted and the three fell silent. Remus and Sirius both seemed to be thinking about something which had apparently been a lot of fun, judging from the small smiles and grins they were sharing. Harry made himself a mental note to find out what exactly Waterfront Bash was, or had been, and if maybe, it was still around.

………………………………………………………………………………

Dinner came around quickly and the three were once again in the kitchen, filling themselves with chicken and salad and this delicious type of warm potato salad. Stuffed and sleepy, they flopped into chairs in the living room, Sirius with his arms dangling over the arm of the sofa and his legs sticking out the other end, Harry curled in an armchair and Remus stretched out happily by the fire.

"Harry, your birthday's in a week, do you wanna do anything special?" Sirius asked.

In the warmth of the fire and the amiable atmosphere, Harry let himself go. For the first time in a long, long while, felt he really, truly was loved and he wouldn't ever exchange the happy existence he had here for anything.

"Er…be with you guys?" He mumbled sleepily. Sirius barely heard it before they both dropped off for a nap. But Remus smiled a secret smile to himself and behind his closed eyelids, his eyes twinkled.


	5. Living Together

**Rainbow Over the Moon**

**Chapter 5; Living Together**

**Sorry about the massively long wait, various reasons, a choice of being gay and not letting me do the wotsit so I couldn't update. General forgetting and …stuff. So sorry. No review replies today, next time I will for definite, my computer broke…massive panic to save all my coursework, but I did lose all my reviews. Arse. **

**If you'd like me to send you an alert when I update email me at ****, or AIM at kamikazekanga. Please r and r. **

The following week passed uneventfully. The three inhabitants of the Cottage in the Forest on the Moor talked and ate and generally had fun. There was little awkwardness and it felt right to Harry, like he was living where he was supposed to. He was slowly growing out of his habit of being shocked whenever anyone did something nice for him and slowly eased into being a regular teenager. He didn't stammer asking questions anymore. After one talk with the two of them, explaining that 'the past was something that's always going to be there', you have to be able to answer questions on it. So as such, Remus, Sirius and Harry were working on exorcising Sirius' demons, Dementors and memories of Azkaban; sorting out Harry's various complexes and rifling through Remus' somewhat coloured history.

One such conversation had begun over lunch, which had been a delicious dish called kedgeree, which had been divine. It had prompted Harry to ask Remus, "Where did you learn to cook like this. It's gorgeous!"

"I was a chef once." Remus replied around his own mouthful of fish and rice.

"Really?" Sirius asked.

"One of my many jobs, it was a muggle job actually. Got fired in the end because of missing one night and day a month, and looking sickly sometimes. They thought I had some disease and didn't think it was appropriate to work in a kitchen. Good job was that." Remus explained, waving his fork around.

"Did not know that." Sirius said. "What else have you done?"

"Jobs?" Remus questioned. Sirius nodded. "Er…teacher, as you know, chef, librarian, barman, bouncer, researcher, shop assistant, pub manager. Exterminator. Dark creature hunter. Among many, many others. The highest I ever got in the ministry was writing papers on Magical Theory." He reeled off.

"Wait…wait, you were a bouncer?" Harry asked.

"Yep. At a wizarding club in Soho. They thought it might keep the riff raff out if they had a werewolf on the door. Worked for a while, but I resigned when I accidentally broke someone's arm. Plus, I think I scared a fair few punters off." Remus replied.

"Exterminator?" Sirius asked, raising a curious eyebrow.

"Yep. Got rid of problems basically, Dark creatures, regular creatures, spells, curses, enchantments. Anything." Remus explained as he scraped his plate.

"Dark creature hunter?" Sirius asked incredulously.

"Bit hypocritical, I suppose. It wasn't actual hunting…just finding lost or unregistered vampires, werewolves, anything that was…er…loose and shouldn't be. I liked that job though, I was helping people more. Which was why I got fired, I was hired because I was a werewolf and knew 'the mindset' or something, but I was a bit…rogue…I guess and stopped others like me…hunters, not werewolves…hunting to kill or imprison by warning their subjects. That's what they said when they fired me anyway." He explained and dug out dessert from a cupboard.

"Wow." Harry said. To Harry, who was only 14 and hadn't ever had a job, and Sirius who'd had about two before being carted off to Azkaban, this was a lot of jobs and a fairly shocking revelation. Harry knew Remus'd had problems with work, and Sirius had known since he'd met Remus, but the sheer amount of jobs in that small sample was a testament to just how long those jobs held out. But to Remus however, it had been his life for twelve years, a drifter if there ever was one and now he was rather content to enjoy his more permanent, well paid, if not risky, assignment.

"Mmm." So he simply replied distractedly to Harry's awe, and contemplated the chocolate fudge cake he had uncovered.

Harry, for once, was happy during summer and was enjoying it like a normal kid. The situation may not have been normal. Living with a werewolf and an Azkaban fugitive, generally wasn't, but the nights were significantly not normal, in a bad way.

Luckily the first few nights, the novelty of sleeping in a new room, his room, in a new house, with friendly people, staved off the nightmares, and Voldemort, by a wave of luck, left off the extreme emotions for a few nights.

Harry had arrived Thursday morning, and had four nights of uninterrupted sleep, except for the odd rising to go to the toilet. By Monday, the inevitable nightmares had returned.

Remus had blinked himself awake at around two in the morning, it took a moment for him to work out why. When he heard the muffled shouts and screams, he shot bolt upright in bed and dashed to Sirius' room.

He frowned in confusion when he saw his best friend sleeping peacefully and snoring. But then it hit him, Harry. It was Harry having the nightmare.

Turning on his heel and darting down the hall to Harry's room, his half asleep mind snapped awake. He skidded to a halt before he slammed into the desk and found Harry tossing and turning and fighting off an imaginary attacker. His cries and shouts were screams muffled by sleep.

"Harry! Harry! Wake up." Remus said, sitting on the edge of the bed. Harry didn't wake. When he put a hand on him, he stilled. "Harry." He repeated, and the teen slowly awoke.

"Wha…? Oh god…" He mumbled and put his face in his hands.

"You were having a nightmare…I came to check you were…alright." Remus said.

"Oh…I'm sorry I woke you. Its fine, just, go back to bed." Harry mumbled.

"No. Harry, talk to me if you need to. Pretend like you're writing the dreams in a letter like you were doing. Okay?" Remus said and tried uncurling the Harry-ball.

"Nmnph." Harry said.

"What? Come on Harry. Uncurl. I'll tuck you in. I won't be able to sleep if I'm worried about you here on your own." Remus wheedled.

"'K." Harry mumbled and lowered his arms so they looped about his ankles. "It was the Third task again. I was fighting Cedric…so he wouldn't take the cup. I was trying to keep him away. But I was too weak. I wasn't brave enough to do it myself." Harry said and his voice grew angry with himself. Remus stood and pulled the covers down so he could uncurl Harry some more and slide his legs under the duvet.

"You're not weak. And you're not 'not brave' enough. You're a Gryffindor and very brave and noble. Cedric would have gone alone had you not insisted on taking the cup together. I know you wouldn't have denied him his half in the winnings. And you know Cedric wouldn't have allowed you to let him go alone. That's what makes you good people. Cedric doesn't blame you. You know that." Harry nodded and gave a little sniff.

"Its alright to cry if you want to…come on kiddo." Remus murmured and sat down on the bed to give Harry a hug, unsure of how he would take it.

To his surprise the boy leaned into him and relaxed into the hug, but didn't cry.

Remus rubbed his back and just caught, thanks to his werewolf hearing, Harry say, "I'm not as Gryffindor as you think."

"Yes you are Harry. No matter what the hat says, you are a Gryffindor tried and true, with all the best traits of a Slytherin, if I may say so."

"How did you…" Harry asked as Remus lay him back against the pillows.

"We all have our secrets…shh, go back to sleep. I'll ward off the nightmares." Harry barely heard the last few soft words and slipped back to sleep, wondering what exactly it was about Remus Lupin that made him feel so warm and open.

Remus sat in the desk chair for a while, watching Harry sleep, before slipping silently back to his own room, listening all the while for any attacking nightmares on either his best friend or godson.


End file.
